I remember when milk went from a nickel to ten cents when I was in 1st grade. Full lunch was fifty cents.

Hey, South Bend is a pretty nice city! It was a shithole in the 80's & 90's, but now the downtown is booming and there are actually things to do there. It is also a bastion of rational thought in the Trumpian political hellhole that is the rest of Indiana.

My brother lives in Elkhart and does not work for the RV industry.
Elkhart also has a really nice grocery store, where I once bought pre-packaged sushi rolls that did not make me sick. So there's that.

One of the good things about living in a small town; evening tickets here are still $8.

I'm at my mom's watching the Clemson-Ohio St. game, after spending the day participating in the local Christmas Bird Count. I'm missing out on a couple of parties back home, but it's a pretty good way to spend New Year's Eve day. Have a good one, AV Clubbers!

My congregation tends more towards John Lennon and Bob Dylan.

So the Unitarian choir?

I teach college Human Biology. You would not believe the spelling variations I have seen for "vagina".

Thanks! I'll have to look for that.

I'm glad you explained that first sentence. I thought Orphan Girl was another AVClubber you were hanging out with!

What makes it "New England style"? It's not a term I've heard before.

WGD was the first of William's movies I watched after his death. It is so darkly funny… it's hard to be sad while watching it.

Thanks for making me laugh despite this shitty news!

My brother did the same thing as a kid while playing Trivial Pursuit with the family, except the answer was "Jimi Hendrix".

The follow-up book by McCandless' sister gives a little more perspective to the story. It would have been interesting to see how that was handled had it been known when the movie was made.

I tend to give her a break, as she was the subject of my daughter's first pop singer fandom, and I surprised her with concert tickets on her 12th birthday. I will always sing along with Sk8ter Boi when I hear it!

My thing as a pre-teen was classic horror films and monster legends. Vampires, werewolves, etc. were endlessly fascinating to me. I knew all the origin stories and mythology, and could tell you the "right" way to kill a vampire. I still have some of the books I collected back then, and they're actually still fun to…

That's an insult to perfectly good fungi!

Another science joke:
Atom #1: "Oh no, I think I've lost an electron!"
Atom #2: "Are you sure?"
Atome #1: "Yes, I'm positive!"

My daughter was watching Rent on her laptop while I was reading this, so I'm trying to set these numbers to music.